Fall TV Preview--MONDAY

• read Part I--Sunday

Credit: BlackGirlsLikeUs.blogspot.com

The start of the work week used to be less of a challenging TV watch day for me, but then a few years ago, I started watching more shows on BBC America. Specifically, I got into Top Gear, a British car show that is mostly fun and very specifically centered on cars, horsepower, turn radius, and stuff I could care less about. But it also features fun stunts with cars and very intriguing road trips to exotic, remote locations where the hosts and their cars are pushed to TVgenic limits. So, that became an hour of my Monday that was new.

What isn't new on Monday is How I Met Your Mother (9/24 @ 8 on CBS), which is beginning its eighth season.

• Is it still a good show? (Sometimes.) 
• Will it ever live up to the unique promise of the first 1 and a half seasons? (No.) 
• Are the actors on the show getting too big for their roles? (In the case of Jason Segal, Neil Patrick Harris, and Cobie Smulders . . . an unqualified yes; in the case of Allison Hannigan--she was bigger than her role from day one due to her Buffy fame; in the case of Josh Radnor, no . . . even though he just wrote and directed a full length film called Liberal Arts. You can't outperform "Ted Moseby, sex architect.)

Another show that is not new for Monday is Castle (9/24 @ 10 on ABC). The game of Will They/Won't They between Stana Katic's Beckett and Nathan Fillion's Castle was resolved with a They Will at the end of last season. This is always a ticklish problem for shows that rely on chemistry and tension between their male and female costars. Most always collapse under the resolution. But this show has always relied a lot on the details of the weekly crime and the fun of Fillion. Hopefully those things won't evaporate.

What else is there to think about on Monday--that isn't on cable? Well, if you don't want to watch the NFL on ESPN, you could get into Dancing with the Stars (9/24 @ 8 on ABC) or The Voice (9/10 @ 8 on NBC). But I'm not a fan of much reality TV so I'll not be stopping by for those items.

I sort of feel that Gossip Girl (10/8 @ 9 on The CW) and 2 Broke Girls (9/24 @ 9 on CBS) are somehow linked though the premise of the two shows are clearly very different. And, I've never watched either one of them. (Maybe it is the excess of makeup on the female characters that I see in commercials that creates a link in my mind? Maybe . . .)

I'm most intrigued by the new show Revolution (9/17 @ 10 on NBC), which is most likely the highest concept show of the new season. You probably saw the commercials if you watched the Olympics back in August. The show is set in a post blackout United States where people are trying to rebuild civilization, find loved ones, defeat clans, and not make you think of Mad Max. I wasn't sold at first on the idea of the show . . . but then I saw that Giancarlo Esposito was involved . . . and then I found out that J.J. Abrams was one of the executive producers. Well, that was all I needed to hear. Even though I was sort of worried to read quotes that suggested Revolutions was "Game of Thrones against an American backdrop" (puhleaze), I have plenty of faith in Abrams to bring the intrigue, the mystery, and the drama for a good, intriguing show. I have always been proud that I latched onto LOST from the beginning with no real idea of what the show was going to be about. It was a super fun ride, and I hope this show might possibly provide something like that as well.

And so, I am awarding Revolution my pick as the new show most likely to succeed on Monday night. And, as I did yesterday, the winning show is enshrined in my TV preview Hall of Haiku Fame.

Revolution

Black-out, Abrams, stop.

A world of intrigue and Gus.

Will it be a hit?